colette eclair with straps

The Colette Eclair (with straps) is here! To be honest I finished it a while ago but I tend to go through phases here. I might go through a movie/tv show watching phase where I’ll spend my free time for 2-3 days doing just that (ahem, boardwalk empire.) Or I might start reading a book and just read for a few days straight (ahem, game of thrones & the hunger games). Or I might become obsessed with a recipe and just spend hours prepping and cooking (ahem, chana masala). Or I might start sewing and feel like only sewing project after project without any breaks between. Then once all those piles project up I’ll finally photograph them and sit down in front of my computer and write and finally post! Which is where I am now.

I’m using another fabric of the same brand as the Opulent Java 5396 I have. The full text printed on the selvedge of the fabric is Veritable Opulent Java Gold Printed 5394.

I bought it in Dantokpa Market in Cotonou but I forgot to take a picture of the shop where I bought it. Oops! Don’t worry I’ll go back again with my camera and a shopping list (the vendors don’t mind photographs if you’re a customer) and let you peek into the giant three story fabric market that is there. It is 6 yards, and the seller started at 9,000CFA for me but I bargained her down to 7,000CFA.

Electricity was out when I decided to start cutting into this fabric. No worries, I have my trusty headlamp.

I decided to lengthen the skirt by five centimeters to give me a bit more knee coverage, and…. oops. This is why cutting fabric late at night isn’t a very good idea, for one of the parts I accidently cut near the pattern instead of my new line. (cyan = where I wanted to cut, red = the shorter length that I didn’t want to cut) It’s okay, I had six yards of this stuff so I just moved the pattern piece and started again.

I also made bias tape to hem this skirt, thinking it would give it a nice subtle hem… until I realized that what actually happens is that it just makes it look as if I mistakingly hemmed the dress toward the outside instead of the inside. So I ripped it off and threw this tape into the scrap bag.

Since I’m still moping about John Mark being gone, I am not brave enough to make self portraits in public in Ouidah. That is a very long post for another day. So I’ll present to you the obligatory poses. Back, front, side, side. I added straps because I’m in Benin so I wanted to make it a tad less scandalous. However once I am back in America I will remake this the original strapless version.

The twirl.

The (failed) hair flip homage to John Mark.

The “lift up one side of a skirt to show the full circleness of it.” And that’s it! Maybe more photos later as I will be wearing this dress in a few weeks in Parakou for the scholarship fundraiser being held by Peace Corps Volunteers.